Stocking and process of making same



Reissued Apr. 28, 1925.

UNITED STATES Re. 16,053 PATENT oEFlcE.

JOHN HADFIEL-D, JR., 0F PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

STOCKING AND O-F MAKING- SAME.

Original No. 1,444,684, dated February 6, 1923, Serial No. 363,450, iiledMarch 5, 1920. Application for reissue tiled May 26, 1923. Serial No. 641,729.

To all whom, it may concern.:

Bc it known that I, JOHN HADFIELD, Jr., a citizen of the United States, residing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Stockings and Processes of Making Same, of which the following' is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in stockings and processes for making the same, and the object of my invention is to provide a new process for forming stockings of the type known as full fashioned, whereby a great saving is achieved both in time and in the cost of manufacture, andan article of superiorquality obtained.

With reference to the drawings:

Figure l, illustrates a stocking made in accordance with my invention;

Fig 2, shows the upper portion of the stocking, the forming of which constitutes the first step in my process;

Fig. 3, is a view of the upper portion of' the stocking shown in Fig. 2, after it has been divided at the rear and is ready for f knitting machine.

transference to the full fashioned knitting machine, and I f Fig. 4 is a view of the upper portion of the stocking divided in part sufficiently to permit the laying out of the lower section for the transfer operation.

The present method of forming stockings of the type known as full fashioned is to knit the entire leg portion upon what is commonly known as a full fashioned stocking This is a comparatiively lengthy process, due in part to the fact that in forming the welt, the upper portion of the stocking must be turned over by han'l.

During the time that the welt is being formed, it is necessary that the machine upon which the stocking is being formed remain idle, and since the knitting and turn. ing of the upper portion of the stocking consumes substantially three-fourths of the time required to form the entire leg, itis apparent that the actua-l loss is considerable. All this will be fully understood and appreciated by those acquainted with the art.

I have discovered that by forming the upper-portion of the leg of my stocking upon a circular 'stocking knittingmachine of the type employed in the manufacture of socalled seamless hosiery,v and transferring this upper portion of the stocking from the t seamless machine to the full fashioned machine for completion of the lower portion of the leg, I am able to obtain a considerable saving both in time and actual cost of manufacture, and at) the same time put `out an article which is superior to the stocking formed entirely upon the full fashioned machine.

In carrying out my process, it is necessary, first, that the circular machine employed in knitting the top of the stocking shall have the same number of needles as the full fashioned machine employed for knitting the lower portion of the leg, and that the two machines shall knit fabrics which in appearance are similar. This can be easily arranged fo-r. In following out the process,

therefore, I first form upon the said ciry gitudinal wale or other guide line formed,`

as indicated in the drawings by the numeral 4f. After the tubular blank has been opened, as shown in Fig. 3, it is ready to be transferred to the full fashioned knitting machine upon which the lower portion 3 o-f the leg is formed' as a fashioned fiat-knit web, and a loose course or transfer line 5 formed in the blank constitutes a guide whereby the transfer may be yswiftly and accurately made. In the transfer, all the stitches or loops at the lower edge of the circular knit blank are passed onto the needles of the flat machine, the juncture between the two leg sections of the nished 1GO article being uniform.

The upper portion of the stocking which is formed upon the said circular machine is substantially similar to the corresponding upper portion ofa stocking knitted upon lobtained by my process is, in the essential features, exactly similar to the stocking o the ankle results'.

knitted wholly upon the full fashioned machine. rlhere are, however, certain particulars in which a stocking made in accordance with my invention is superior to the ordinary full fashioned stocking. One of the main diiculties experienced in the manufacture of seamless hosiery is the fact that in order to obtain proper relative proportions in the lower portion of the leg which lies around the ankle and in theextreme upper portion of the leg, it is necessary to limit the circumference of the upper portion of the leg. If this upper portion of the leg is made larger than is ordinarily the custom, the ankle must be correspondingly enlarged, and a stocking which bags around Even in full fashioned stockings of the usual type, there is as a rule insufficient provision made at this point, and the stockings are frequently found to bind the wearer at the top. It is, in fact, extremely hard to-find a stocking which 'will' meet all requirements, and a happy mean is-in most cases the best that kcan be realized.` It is a fact, however, that although the circular knitting machine employed for forming the upper part of my stocking has the same number of needles as the full fashioned machine which forms the o lower portion thereof, and though the fabrics of plain knitting formedupon the two Inachines are apparently identical, yet the upper portion of the leg of a stocking made 1n accordance with myl invention has a greater stretch and can encompass a greater area than astocking knit in its entirety upon the full fashioned machine employed to form the lower portion of the leg of my stocking. This difference in` apparently identical fabrics is 'due for most part to the needles used in the two machines, the circular machine of the type best adapted for practicing the present invention using latch needles and the flat machines using spring beard. As a consequence, I obtain a stocking which is capable of wider application and moregeneral use than the stocking formed complete upon the full fashioned machine. l

If still further exibility is required, moreover, it yis possible upon thevcircular knitting machine to form the inside of the .Weltvof a fabric less closelyknit than that of the rest of the stocking, and thiswill afford even greater flexibility to the welt while not 'detracting from the appearance of the stocking.` Furthermore, in transferring the upper portion 1 ofthe stocking to the full fashioned-machine, it is unnecessary to slit the blank completely open, it being sufficient to slit the blank for example from the bottom up asfar as the welt only, the welt being leftmtact. In this event,there will be found in my stocking an actually greater number of stitches than in 'a full fashioned stocking, the leg lof which is formed complete upon the full fashioned machine employed lto knit the lower portion of the leg of Umy stocking, since in stitching upl the back of the open blank, a number of stitches is of necessity sacrificed. Actually greater width may thus4 be obtained at the top of the stocking. l

I am able, furthermore, in my stocking to take advantage of the so-called lock stitch or anti-run-back, which is a stitch formable only upony circular machines such as I employ informing the upper portion ofy my stocking. This lock stitch is placed somewhere below the welt, as indicated in the drawings by the numeral 6, the purposebechine, and as a consequence, it is` incorporated in my completed full fashioned stocklng. i Many other Apossible advantageous feaquainted with the art.

As indicative of the great saving of time resulting from my process, I am able` to form the leg of my stocking complete in ap- 100 proximately two-thirds of the time that it takes to form the leg of a stocking upon a full fashioned machine, this' saving constituting the difference in the time that it takes to 'form the upper portion of-the stocking 105 upon the respective machines. I am also ableto avoid in the formation of my stocking considerable close and arduous work] upon the part of the operator, an'd the machine-formed welt is generally of superior 110 quality to the welt formed manually upon the full fashioned. machine.

Aside from the vactual saving in time and labor thus described, I am able to operate my machines practically continuously, with- 115 ffl' out the necessity for keeping theniidle for protracted periods, and the production'is thereby greatly increased, this actual increase o-f production -being approximately 100%.

manufacture which is less per article than ,in the ordinary process of manufacture.

A Since the seamless knitting machines are comparatively cheap and easy to obtain, my 125 process will particularly recommend itself to manufacturers desiring to increase their c production while belng unable or unwilling to go to the expense of purchasing more of 13 the full fashioned machinery.

ing which is formed upon thecircular matures will present themselves to those acp In fact, Iv obtain this greatly increased production at an actual .cost of The expression. fashioned flat-kuit web appearing in the claims is to be understood as applying to webs knit on the fiat or fullfashioned stocking machines, or to webs the fashioning of which is accomplished by transferring stitches after the method' used in these machines.

I claim:

1. The method of manufacturing' fas ioned hosiery, which comprises formingan upper part of the leg as a circular knit web including a welt and with at least the lower section thereof open along av longitudinal line, and adding to said open lower section a fashioned flat knit web constituting a lower leg portion.

' 2. The method ioned hosiery, which comprises forming an upper part of the leg as a circular knit web including an automatically formed welt and with at least the lowery section thereof open ralong a longitudinal line, and adding to said open lower section a fashioned flat-knit web constituting a lower leg portion.

3. The method of vproducing fashioned hosiery, which comprises forming an upper portion of the leg including an automatically formed welt as a circular-knit web open along a longitudinal line, adding thereto a fashioned flat-knit web constituting a lower leg portion, and `oining thelongitudinal edges of the combined web to form the tubular leg.- f

4. The method of producing fashioned hosiery, which comprises forming an upper4 portion of the leg including the welt as a tubular web divided longitudinallyat least in part, laying out the lower section of said web in a substantially straight line, and continuing the leg as a fashioned fiat-knit web from said lower section.

5. The method of forming fashioned vof manufacturing fash-l hosiery, which comprises knitting an upper portion of the leg including the welt as a tubular web, cutting the web to ermit laying out the lower section thereofy in a substantially straight line, and continuing the leg as a. fashioned flat-knit web from said lower section. 1

6. The method of producing fashioned hosiery, which comprises knitting-an upper portion of the stocking as a tubular web divided longitudinally at least in part, laying out the lower section in a substantially straight line, and continuing the leg from said lower section as a fashioned flat-knit web of the same character of knitting as the said tubular web.

7 As a new article of manufacture, an independent unit of circular knit fabric constituting the upper part of the leg of a stocking and terminating not lower than the calf, said unit having ai welt at the .top and being divided longitudinally at least at the lower end. y

8. As a new article of manufacture, an independent unit of circular knit fabric constituting the upper part of the leg of a stocking and terminating not lower than the calf, said unit having at the top an automatically formed welt and being divided longitudinally at least at the lower end.

9. The method of manufacturing fash-- ioned hosiery, which .comprises forming an' upper part of the leg asa circular knit web JOHN HADFIELD, JR.

lncluding a welt and with at least the lower section thereof open along a longitudinal 

